Fehr: NHL lockout would be 'real shame'

August 17, 2012|By Chris Kuc | Tribune reporter

Donald Fehr (center) in a 2008 photo). (Tribune photo)

The NHL Players' Association concluded a regional meeting with 40 of its members Friday, and the players attending now have a firmer grasp on how negotiations with the league on a new collective bargaining agreement are progressing.

NHLPA Executive Director Donald Fehr described the mood of the meeting in Rosemont as: "it was interested, it was focused and it was sobered."

The gathering came just a few days after the NHL reacted negatively to the NHLPA's alternate CBA proposal, making the possibility of a third work stoppage since 1994 a distinct possibility. The 2004-05 season was cancelled after the sides could not reach an agreement prior to the signing of the current CBA which expires Sept. 15.

In its initial offer to the union, the league proposed a deal that contained significant financial concessions, including dropping players' share of hockey related revenue from 57 to 46 percent. That would mean a 24-percent rollback of salaries.

"The players understand what the issues are," Fehr said. "They understand how the owners' proposal would affect them, they understand how this compares to what happened seven years ago and what the players gave up then and they understand this can affect their lives if we can't find a way through this in the immediate future.

"The players are really pretty unified. If there was any doubt about their understanding of this negotiation that evaporated when we got the owners' proposal. Whatever lingering doubts there might have been that the players weren't on the same page has ceased to be there."

On the possibility of the league staging a lockout on Sept. 15, Fehr said: "If it has to be, it will be a real shame and it will be unfortunate but (the players) are prepared for it."

With that said, Fehr said there was still time to reach an agreement. He called the negotiations "ongoing" and the sides are expected to meet Wednesday in Toronto for further talks.

"If there's a mutual will to get this done and we can find a common platform around which to structure an agreement then obviously there's plenty of time," Fehr said.

"We view a strike or a lockout ... as a last resort. You continue to negotiate and do everything you can and only when you get to a point where you conclude there is nothing else to do and not another day that you can wait, do you say 'OK, we'll consider doing this.' You have to hope that's the view that's on the other side."

Coyotes forward David Moss, who attended the meetings along with Blackhawks Jamal Mayers, Ben Smith, Brandon Bollig and Nick Leddy, said the players remain hopeful the season will begin on time in October.

"The league are the ones saying that there will be a lockout if we don't come to a decision," Moss said. "The players are still very optimistic and hopeful that things will get done on time."